Startup and shutdown times were about average for a prosumer SLR. (Sensor cleaning at startup and shutdown are enabled by default, but cleaning is aborted when the shutter button is pressed.) Buffer clearing times depend on the image size and quality, burst length and how fast the card can be written to, but were generally pretty fast for an SD based camera. Note that the Nikon D7000 supports the new Ultra High Speed (UHS-I) bus standard for SDHC/SDXC cards, so best-case buffer clearing times may be faster than we measured. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate a fast UHS-I compliant card in time for this test. (Fast UHS-I compliant SDHC/SDXC cards from Toshiba and Panasonic are due to start shipping sometime in November, 2010.)

The shutter lag numbers above measure time from shutter button press to image capture, with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. This largely removes the issue of differences in lens focusing speed, and measures how fast the camera can measure and act on focus information. In this metric, the Nikon D7000 was slightly slower than average for a prosumer SLR. The D7000 required 0.238 second for full AF when using Single-point (center) AF mode (our default full AF lag test), a little slower than what we measured for the D90 (0.208s) and D300S (0.225s). The D7000 required 0.436 second when using the 39-point Auto-area AF mode, also slower than the D90 (0.270s) and D300S (0.370s). When prefocused, shutter lag was only 0.053 second which is faster than the D90 (0.067s) and identical to the D300S. Continuous and Manual focus lag times were both 0.054 second, which is very fast; faster than the D90 (0.074s, 0.067s) and D300S (0.155s, 0.150s) respectively.

As expected, the Nikon D7000's Live View mode added considerable delay. Like the D90, the D7000 does not offer the D300S's "Hand-Held" mode which uses the same "mirror-down" phase-difference AF method employed when using the optical viewfinder. The D7000's Live View mode uses contrast detection autofocus, from data streaming off the image sensor. Using the gear-driven Sigma 70mm f/2.8 prime, full autofocus lag was a rather lengthy 1.95 seconds, though that's still faster than the D90 (2.29s) and the D300S's contrast-detect mode (2.5s). We also tested Live View autofocus with the Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G VR kit lens. It has a built-in ultrasonic autofocus motor, so it was quicker at contrast-detect focusing than the Sigma, at 1.42 seconds. Prefocused, the D7000's Live View shutter lag was pretty fast, at 0.247 second. The Nikon D90 was 0.519 second while the D300S required 0.419s.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. We also use the same Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro with every camera (on all platforms except Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and Nikon consumer models lacking an in-body focus motor), to further reduce variation, and because our tests showed that focus-determination time with this lens was close to the fastest, across multiple camera bodies from different manufacturers. Being an older design with a non-ultrasonic motor, it wouldn't be the fastest at slewing from one focus setting to another, but that's exactly the reason we measure focus determination speed, which is primarily a function of the camera body, vs focus adjustment speed, which is primarily a function of the lens.

Cycle Time (shot-to-shot)

Single Shot mode
Large Fine JPEG

0.48 second
2 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, with no signs of slowing down.

Single Shot mode
14-bit RAW

0.48 second
9 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over 14 shots. (Buffer depth.)

Single Shot mode
14-bit RAW + LF JPEG

0.52 second
13 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over 12 shots. (Buffer depth.)

Early shutter
penalty?

No
(YES with flash)

Some cameras refuse to snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous modeLarge Fine JPEG
(Size Priority)

0.169 second(5.92 fps);19 frames total;7 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 19 shots, then slows to an average of 0.48 second (2.07 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 12% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.

Continuous mode14-bit RAW
(Lossless Compressed)

0.170 second(5.88 fps);10 frames total;9 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 10 frames, then slows to an average of 0.93 second (1.07 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 80% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.

Continuous mode14-bit RAW + LF JPEG

0.168 second(5.96 fps);10 frames total;12 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 10 frames, then slows to an average of 1.30 seconds (0.77 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 10% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.

Continuous mode
12-bit RAW + LF JPEG

0.167 second
(6.00 fps);
10 frames total;
13 seconds to clear*

Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 10 frames, then slows to an average of 1.32 second (0.76 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 64% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were about average for an SLR, at 0.48 second for Large/Fine JPEGs or 14-bit lossless compressed RAWs. Cycle time increased slightly to 0.52 second for lossless compressed 14-bit RAW + Large/Fine JPEGs. These are somewhat slower cycle times than the D90 (which ranged from 0.32s for RAW + L/F JPEGs to 0.36s for L/F JPEGs), though very similar to the D300S. Keep in mind the 16-megapixel D7000 has larger image files than the 12-megapixel D90 and D300S, though.

Continuous mode for Large/Fine JPEGs was quite good for a prosumer SLR, ranging from 5.9 to 6.0 frames per second depending on the file type. That's significantly faster than the D90's 4.5 fps burst mode, but slower than the D300S's 7.1 fps. The big news however is the D7000's 14-bit RAW burst mode does not come with a speed penalty like it does with the D300S. The D7000 managed 5.88 frames per second in 14-bit RAW mode, which is more than twice as fast as the D300S's 2.67 fps 14-bit mode. With 12-bit RAW files, the D300S was however quite a bit faster at 7.1 fps. The D90 only offers 12-bit RAWs, and it managed 4.13 fps in our tests.

The Nikon D7000's buffer depths were quite good for a prosumer SLR, considering the burst rates and file sizes. The D7000 managed 19 L/F JPEGs and 10 RAW or RAW + JPEG frames before slowing down. (You will likely do better, as the target image we use for our tests is designed to be difficult to compress.) Interestingly, the bit-depth didn't seem to matter for RAW buffer depths in our testing. The D90 could shoot over 20 L/F JPEG frames, 10 RAW frames and 7 RAW+L/F frames while the D300S managed 26 L/F JPEGs, 22 14-bit RAW and 17 14-bit RAW + L/F JPEGs.

The D7000's flash took 4.0 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is a bit slower than average for an SLR. The D90 required 2.2 seconds while the D300S took only 1.7 seconds.

As mentioned previously, the Nikon D7000 supports the new Ultra High Speed (UHS-I) bus standard for SDHC/SDXC cards, so best-case buffer clearing times may be faster than we measured. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate a fast UHS-I compliant card in time for this test. (Fast UHS-I compliant SDHC/SDXC cards from Toshiba and Panasonic are due to start shipping sometime in November, 2010.)

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, downloads are very fast.

Bottom line, the Nikon D7000 is a very responsive camera overall. Autofocus speeds were slightly slower than average for a prosumer SLR, but still quite good. Continuous mode speeds were faster than average making the D7000 good for sports and action shots, and it was nice that the D7000 didn't slow down when shooting 14-bit RAW bursts like the D300S does.

Battery and Storage Capacity

BatteryExcellent battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode

Number of Shots

Optical Viewfinder,
(CIPA standard)

1,050

Live View LCD,
(CIPA standard)

Unknown

The Nikon D7000 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is excellent with the optical viewfinder, but if you plan to use Live View or shoot movies much, you'll definitely want to have a spare battery to bring along.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

StorageThe Nikon D7000 accepts SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards. No card is included with the camera. Nikon recommends cards with at least SD Class 6 speed rating if you want to shoot HD movies.

Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
2GB Memory Card

Fine

Normal

Basic

14-bit
RAW

12-bit
RAW

4,928 x 3,264

Images
(Avg size)

13615.1 MB

2707.6 MB

5303.9 MB

54
37.9 MB

72
28.4 MB

Approx.
Comp.

3:1

6:1

13:1

0.8:1

0.7:1

3,696 x 2,448

Images
(Avg size)

2408.5 MB

4724.3 MB

9162.2 MB

-

-

Approx.
Comp.

3:1

6:1

12:1

-

-

2,464 x 1,632

Images
(Avg size)

5303.9 MB

1,0442.0 MB

2,0321.0 MB

-

-

Approx.
Comp.

3:1

6:1

12:1

-

-

The numbers in the table above reflect using the Size Priority setting for JPEG compression, and Lossless Compressed for RAWs (the Nikon D7000's defaults). Capacity numbers above are reported by the camera, and are often very conservative. Actual capacity is likely to be better for typical subjects, as file size varies with scene. We strongly recommend buying a fast SDHC/SDXC card. You should probably consider at least an 8GB card if not a 16GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings, especially if you plan on doing a lot of RAW or HD movie shooting. (Check the shopping link above, cards are cheap these days, so there's no reason to skimp -- But do consider faster cards for this camera, to reduce buffer clearing times.)